I am going to respectfully disagree on metal detectors. My reasons are as follows. Feel free to push back.
According to the US Secret Service (at a conference I attended years back), schools are one of the safest places for children. Statistically they are safer than homes. Why would we put metal detectors in one of the safest places in America?
In 2022, there were 140 people killed in what Education Week called “school shootings.” Of the 140 shot, 100 survived. There were about 55 million kids in public and private schools. Granted, I think the number shot versus enrollment were different school years, so there is a hole in my analysis, but the point remains. A comparatively minuscule number of people are shot at schools every year. Even of the 140, some of those were after hours and didn’t involve students (at least one was a drug deal gone wrong). If I am doing the math correctly, 140 out of 55M is 0.00025%–in other words 0%. It’s that small. This doesn’t include the staff of schools which is going to drive that percentage even lower.
School shootings are highly emotional. If we had an illness with this kind of transmission and survival rate, we wouldn’t be talking about it. I’m not saying we shouldn’t talk about school shootings. But let’s realistically look at the scope of the problem. On average 270 people are struck by lightning every year. Our kids are more likely to get struck by lightning then get shot at school.
Personally, I don’t want to go places where I have to walk through a metal detector. If I had to walk through a metal detector to go to a mall, grocery store, Wal Mart, etc., I’d go somewhere else.
Additionally, I don’t want my kids to have to go through metal detectors to go to school. Not when schools are as safe as outlined above.
What happens when the metal detectors go off? Do we then wand kids? Pat them down? That’s a big nope to me. I don’t want my daughter pulled off to the side and wanded or patted down TSA style. I’d rather accept that tiny risk outlined above or use other methods of prevention.
Where my kid goes to school there are multiple buildings. So do we use metal detectors every time they change classes and go from building to building? It becomes a huge logistical issue that reduces instructional time to implement security measures.
I agree with the good guy with the gun. There were resource officers at the school in GA. They may have reduced fatalities. It’s too early to tell. But they didn’t prevent this altogether. I am not disagreeing that they should be one piece of the puzzle. But again, let’s be realistic about their efficacy.
We can make schools exempt from mass shootings. We truly can. When was the last shooting in a jail or prison? Do that at school and the problem is gone. But I don’t want to turn my kid’s school into a jail.
Just one man’s opinion. Disagreement welcome and invited.
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